Hero-600
Villain-300

I was dealt AA in SB. Older white male UTG limped as he had been a bunch. He seemed avg for the live 1/2 scene (limp/call frequently preflop, didn't seem to deviate from basic to poor ABC poker postflop, no issue with drawing, calling down, etc). His image of me, if he was able to pay attention, could be mixed. I had a big stack but had lost a big hand last hand by getting rivered. I tried to appear tilted.

Two other players limped and I raised to 15 which was a pretty standard sizing for the action of the table, only he called.

Flop came 567. I think this is a pretty basic b/f vs. someone who has such a wide preflop range. I think that I be 20 and he called without much hesitation.

Turn 2. I thought for a minute, but decided on a blocking/value bet of 55$. I think that his range still has a bunch of single pairs and oesds. Me having A blocks a decent number of his potential flush combos I think. He raised quickly to 100 (dealer made it 110 obv), and I thought for about 30 seconds and called. i have direct odds to call as well. He has 150 behind exactly.

River 3. I checked, he shoved, I tanked and folded.



Main questions: I feel like I should be pot controlling somewhere. Playing a 400bb pot with 1 pair (even against this villain) seems poor. Do you check the flop (doubtful) or check the turn when I now have nfd and the 2 is unlikely to improve him often?

I'm confident my fold was correct in this circumstance (body language, speed of bet, manner of shoveling chips etc), but getting 3:1 on a call here, still folding?

When faced with turn min raise, my only option is to flat right? Shoving can't accomplish much...

I'm usually attempting to pot control (especially this deep) with only an overpair. What's villain's bet sizing like? Some villain's have no clue how to bet the turn, while others bet fairly well. I'd probably check the turn, hope he only bets small at worse, and call.

Other than that, I'd play hand the same way.

I'd be interested in what others think, cuz I know I probably tend to pot control too much (which I'm not convinced is a bad thing).

GcluelessNLnoobG

No real info from his bet sizing. He's been here for 20 hands max. Think he sat with 300, won a hand where he kind of c/c'd a couple of streets in what seemed like a standard hand. I think he raised pre once to 10 (std for table).

Fwiw, I think pot controlling in these 1/2 donkament games is underrated and difficult to do too much.

I think you played it perfectly if you plan on tank/donk-shoving diamond river. No reason to pot control here, we miss out on way too much value. It'd be different if we did not have the ace of diamonds against a loose passive fish but even then I still probably bet/fold.

I think 99 no diamond is still a bet fold on the turn here.

From your description, it seems like there was about $70-75 in the pot when you bet $55 on the turn? If so, this isn't at all a blocking bet, just value. I think you should have bet more like $30-$40, probably $40. When he raises, you're playing entirely for your flush draw and check/folding is right when it misses.

+1

There's 3-to-a-flush and 3-to-a-straight on board. I'm not convinced we're missing "way too much value" as lottsa worse hands are giving up on a turn bet methinks on this scary board, especially when they're not sure if they're going to be faced with another huge bet on the river. Plus, another bet that's called kinda gets on the way to us committing a big chunk of our stack. If we're called, the pot will be $180 and villain will only have slightly more than a PSB of $210 left on the river with us OOP; not a fun time if it blanks off.

I think this is a good spot to bet/fold with AA the whole way. Against most villains you can even make the riv bet on the smaller side, he will never bluff-raise you in a million years.

It was something like 15+15+8 (3 limpers+BB) pre, 20+20 otf = 78~, i may have missed a guy who posted that hand, but I was quite sure that there was 80-90 in the pot at that point. I may have bet 25 otf as well, sorry to be vague.

It was blocking in some regards, but value as well no doubt.

My plan on all streets was b/f in theory. The size of his turn raise makes it incorrect to fold however.

I think that b/b/b (all b/f and dependent on runouts) and b/c/b (with river bet being bigger for more value I think) are comparable. Better reads would make one line superior. If I knew he liked to trap for example, i think b/c/b is best, if i knew he just stations with one pair based on my image, b/b/b is best.

I agree wholeheartedly with your comments that very few villains can bluff raise at all.